GSK innovation starts to relieve the urge to smoke in 50 seconds

GSK Australia launched today a new innovative product Nicabate Oral Strips that starts to* relieve the urge to smoke in just 50 seconds. Nicabate Oral Strips are the first and only nicotine oral strips in the country.

“Quitting smoking can be especially hard when a sudden urge takes hold. At GSK we are committed to helping people quit and innovations that relieve nicotine cravings fast is one way we can assist. This is why I am very proud to launch today our latest NRT [nicotine replacement therapy] product Nicabate Oral Strips,” Vincent Cotard General Manager GSK Consumer Healthcare said.

Nicabate Oral Strips uses new technology and the thin, transparent, water soluble strips dissolve on the tongue to release nicotine quickly to help relieve cravings.

Many smokers don’t just experience a steady level of cravings. Some take hold suddenly, are incredibly strong and can trigger a ‘quitter’ back into old smoking habits.

“Cravings often occur when a person is exposed to something in their daily routine that they associate with smoking, such as a coffee break or even after work drinks. These are known as ‘situational cravings’. Nicabate Oral Strips has been designed to assist in these scenarios. They deliver a controlled dose of therapeutic nicotine when people need it the most,” said Vincent Cotard.

GSK produces a broad range of NRT products to assist smokers to quit.

“NRT products are proven to double a smokers chance of quitting successfully compared to that of cold turkey and this combined with the help of a healthcare professional can provide the support a smoker needs to break their addiction to nicotine,” said Vincent Cotard.

“We understand that every smoker will quit differently. By delivering a variety of formats – from patches, lozenges and now oral strips – smokers have the opportunity to find a method and format that works best for them, their needs and their lifestyles.”

As well as helping people to quit smoking completely, NRT products, such as Nicabate Oral Strips can be used by people wanting to cut down the number of cigarettes they smoke before quitting completely. With Nicabate NRT support, smokers can double their chances of successfully quitting¹ .

“On average it takes a smoker eight quit attempts to give up completely, with only 3% of attempts per year being successful. A major contributing factor to these statistics is that more than half of people attempting to quit try to give up cold turkey, without the necessary support and understanding of the complex quit journey they’re embarking on.

In Australia there are 3.3 million smokers, 83% of which intend to quit smoking in the next 12 months² .
The NRT category in Australia grew by 5.78% from 2012 to 2013 and is currently worth $125M.

Nicabate Oral Strips is available in packs of 15 and 60. Each strip contains 2.5mg of therapeutic nicotine. The product is available from all leading supermarkets and pharmacies Australia-wide.

For information on Nicabate Oral Strips and for stockists please visit: www.nicabate.com.au

Notes to Editors:

Nicabate Oral Strips - Nicabate Oral Strips deliver controlled doses of nicotine to help provide relief to nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings. The strips contain 2.5mg of nicotine per oral strip. They are not intended for use by those under the age of 18 and should be kept out of the reach of children. Like all Nicabate products, users must read and carefully follow the label before using. Only use as directed. Nicabate products have a well-established safety and efficacy profile for smoking cessation.

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. We deliver the highest quality medicines, vaccines and over-the-counter healthcare products and contribute to Australia’s economy through new approaches to agriculture and manufacturing, and by investing in local research and development. For further information please visit www.gsk.com.au or www.gsk.com

Issued on behalf of GlaxoSmithKline by:

Contains nicotine. Stop smoking aid. Use only as directed.

Nicabate is a registered trade mark of the GSK group of companies.

References

¹ versus cold turkey
² GSK Data On File

*Apologies to our customers we have made an amendment to the media release that was originally posted on 16/04/14. It should have read Nicabate Oral Strips that starts to relieve the urge to smoke in just 50 seconds.